CenturyLink has added a team of five people in Sioux Falls and will launch a high-speed Internet and data connection service today aimed at small and medium-sized businesses.

The roll-out is part of a larger launch that will bring the service to 16 cities, including major metropolitan markets such as Minneapolis and Seattle.

"We just had made a significant investment in our network, which is allowing us to launch in Sioux Falls as well," said Julie Darrington, vice president and general manager of the Dakotas and western Minnesota. "So this is very exciting for Sioux Falls."

The service, which offers speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, is significant faster than traditional broadband.

"If you wanted to watch (download) an HD movie trailer, you'd get there in about 8 seconds," said Kevin Ancell, area operations manager for South Dakota. "And that's about 100 times faster than traditional broadband."

The faster service won't be available to consumers, although those speeds have been updated as well.

The 1 gigabit service will be offered to businesses as small as one-person operations. It is a symmetrical, fiber-based service that Ancell said means data comes into the user as fast as it goes out to the recipient.

"There's so many applications," he said. "You'd be surprised how many businesses are using cloud and cloud computing today … they need speeds that can achieve gigabit to make it productive for them."

Other businesses also offer high-speed service. Midcontinent Communications offers it as customers request. SDN Communications started offering 1 gigabit to businesses in 2008 and offers up to 100 gigabit.

CenturyLink also offers higher speeds to larger businesses, but the new launch represents an effort to reach smaller ones.

"The availability, quality and competitiveness of fiber services are critical infrastructure for attracting new businesses to Sioux Falls," said Evan Nolte, president and CEO of the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce. "Businesses will find it easier to communicate with remote or home-based workers and with clients when exchanging large data files, participating in video conferences or making more use of complex web designs."

CenturyLink started building out its fiber in the city to reach multitenant strip malls and office buildings three years ago when it acquired Qwest Communications.

"It's really our focused strategy. Building fiber to the customers," Darrington said. "We have expanded and have an entire local sales, service and support team physically in the building in Sioux Falls targeted specifically to the small-medium business space."

There are 58 people working at the downtown Sioux Falls office. A call center there closed earlier this year.